Cheteshwar Pujara embracing change at 100 | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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Cheteshwar Pujara embracing change at 100

Feb 25, 2023 06:31 PM IST

The India No. 3’s desire to expand his strokes against spin likely aimed at unshackling himself from the leg-side trap he’s set

Locked in battle with one of his major adversaries while defending a meagre target in the second Test in Delhi, Nathan Lyon was bowling to Cheteshwar Pujara with full leg-side protection – short-leg, short mid-wicket, silly mid-on and square-leg. The Australian off-spinner has dismissed the India No 3 11 times in his career. It’s the most he has got any batter out. It’s the most Pujara has got out to any bowler other than James Anderson.

After the match, Pujara told the broadcaster that he had been working on the lofted shot and the sweep against spinners for the past year-and-a-half to expand his batting range(PTI) PREMIUM
After the match, Pujara told the broadcaster that he had been working on the lofted shot and the sweep against spinners for the past year-and-a-half to expand his batting range(PTI)

It is not that Pujara struggles to score against Lyon. In between those 11 dismissals, Pujara has scored 532 runs, averaging 48.4. Pujara-Lyon has been a classic, yet the least hyped face-off in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history.

Lyon looked confident he could contain Pujara with a leg-side heavy field as the inner ring was all he had to protect. For all the alacrity using his feet against spin, Pujara doesn’t hit over the circle, Lyon believed. Until that moment. In the middle of Lyon’s fifth over, shaking off the tension of a mix-up with Rohit Sharma that had led to the captain’s run out, Pujara came down the wicket and lofted the ball for four to mid-wicket.

With no runs to play with, the shot got Australia to open up the field. An amused Virat Kohli approved from the non-striker's end. This was Pujara breaking away from his long-format batting template ever-so-slightly, at 35 and in his 100th Test. His winning runs came off another boundary, chipped over mid-wicket off Todd Murphy.

If Pujara had done this two seasons ago, team-mate R Ashwin would have had to sport a funny look. “Will we ever see Pujara hitting an off-spinner’s ball over the top?” Ashwin asked batting coach Vikram Rathour on his YouTube channel before the 2021 home series against England. “If he goes ahead and plays Moeen Ali or any other spinner in this series, then I will come to play the match with half my moustache cut. It is an open challenge.”

Leg-pulling aside, Ashwin is one of Pujara’s biggest admirers. In an article for the espncricinfo website before Pujara’s centenary Test, Ashwin wrote: “One of the arguments I lost was in trying to get him to expand his game. I always believed he could have been an excellent one-day batter.” Watching Pujara use his feet with rare attacking intent in a match situation would have pleased him.

After the match, Pujara told the broadcaster that he had been working on the lofted shot and the sweep against spinners for the past year-and-a-half to expand his batting range.

ADDRESSING CRACKS

Pujara can be counted among the few of his tribe who sparingly take the arial route against spin and largely avoid the sweep shot. His dismissal in the Nagpur Test, caught at short fine-leg off a top-edged sweep, was only the second such dismissal in his career.

Even with a more conventional scoring approach to spinners, Pujara’s footwork and ability to smother the spin gives him the best numbers (avg 65.27) against tweakers in this India squad. Conviction in his gameplan and home-bred technique meant he was not tempted to stand outside the crease to counter swing on the last England tour when all other Indian batters used that tactic.

It’s only in the last quarter of his career that runs have dried up, his average having dipped to 29.81 in 25 Tests from 46.89 in 75 Tests. Pujara takes a lot of pride to be a difficult batter to dislodge. The ratio of his stay at the wicket too has slipped from 99 to 76 balls per innings.

What may have prompted him to embrace change is the fall in numbers even in his strong area – batting against spin (avg down from 74.86 to 43), as against pace (avg down from 41.83 to 25.1). He may have begun to turn the corner with recent good scores in Bangladesh.

But with India playing on progressively more challenging pitches against spin at home, some glaring issues against left-arm spin – average down to 28.87 from 159.2 – haven’t gone unnoticed. Seven of his dismissals in the past three years against left-arm spin have come playing off the front foot. England’s Jack Leach challenged his defence and dragged him out of the crease into no man's land several times.

Whether opening up more scoring options or showing attacking intent even against the turning ball is on Pujara’s plate would be worth watching. “If you can use your feet and get close to the ball or get on the back foot, it’s better on turning tracks. I have always done that in my career and it has helped me,” said Pujara. “But sweep is one shot I have worked on. Hopefully, if there’s enough bounce on the pitch, I might play that.”

Only six Indians have gone on to play 125 or more Tests. Nursing the ambition to join that elite league, the obdurate Pujara may be willing to change.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Rasesh Mandani loves a straight drive. He has been covering cricket, the governance and business side of sport for close to two decades. He writes and video blogs for HT.

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